ShareHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
The Texas Rangers have hired Clint Hurdle to replace longtime hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, and the latest addition to the coaching staff isn’t planning to waste much time getting to know his new players.
Hurdle, who was introduced Thursday via a mid-afternoon conference call, has already started gather phone numbers and video clips of Rangers hitters and is planning to make contact with players as quickly as possible.His first task is to earn their trust and convince them that he is committed to helping them and the Rangers reach their full potential.“I need to engage in communication with these men to know that I’m on point,” said Hurdle, who signed a one-year deal with a club option. “I’m as excited as I’ve been about anything in the game baseball about this opportunity and the challenge that comes with it.“Change can bring upon controversy. I’m going to try to make this as seamless a transition as can be. I am going to challenge them to give me simple readouts on who they are as hitters. … Have they truly bought into a team concept as an offensive unit that we just can’t go up and grip it and rip it? I was a hitter. I know you fall into those traps.”Hurdle emerged from a group of four candidates who interviewed Monday. He said the combination of speed and power puts the Rangers in select company in the major leagues. The goal is to realize that home runs and base hits aren’t the only way to produce runs.“You can really create some separation from other teams by your ability to enhance and utilize productively all 27 outs in a game,” he said. “We’re going to try to make everybody a little bit better, which will make the team better, which will make the team better, and challenge each other to really understand the importance of scoring a run and driving in a run.“It’s not all about the hit. Not that any hitter thinks that way, but most often our first thought is our most important thought. We want to really ingrain to them a team-first mentality.”Jeff Wilson, 817-390-7760
@Nyx.CommentBody@